TO ALL EMO's, THIS IS FOR YOU

[See graphic arts below]

I have ministered to many EMO's in various community, schools and churches. Oftentimes, they have been looked at with disdain and prejudice just because of how they look. Good thing, God don't judge us based on outward appearance. I have experienced that people who look rebellious are just actually people who are needing love.

I have encountered group of young people in one campus who were kick-out by the school because they started to make cuts in their arms using a cutter. When I counseled them, each one of them shared their frustrations and pains in life. One has a broken family, another has been physically abused. And goes the story of each one trailing stories of frustrations, self-pity, self-condemnation and guilt.

Oftentimes, these young people have been misjudged just because of their looks, their hair-style and their music. Even churches has the wrong goal to change their culture and their looks without addressing the pain and the reasons why they are doing Emo. Instead of receiving love, what they received is prejudice and rejection. All they need is to be listened at, to be cared for, to be accepted, and to be helped.

One Emo asked me, "Does Jesus loves an Emo like me?"
I told him the stories of the "emo's" in the BIble - the lunatic whom Jesus healed, the demonized boy, and Mary Magdalene. And I showed her my own scars in my left and right arms, "Even before this emo culture has emerged, people has been already struggling with self-hate, depression, frustrations and guilt. It's as old as the world. But there is hope. I experienced this freedom and I want to share it to you."

I told the 13-year-old girl who has the worst cuts in her arms, "You don't have to do this anymore, because Someone has already been wounded for you. Jesus has already been punished, cut and wounded for you. It means you are loved, accepted, and forgiven."

"So then it could mean Jesus is also an Emo in this regard?", the girl asked me.
"Well, if we take Jesus becoming "human" to die on the cross, and "emo's" are humans, then it is right, Jesus is an "emo" in this context. He became "emo" for you and died for you to have freedom. If you were called today as "Emo," He was called in his time as "Man of Sorrows." You don't have to do this because Jesus is hurt looking at you doing this because He loves you so much. He already shouldered all the pains and the sins."

This emo girl together with her friends cried as they received Jesus in their lives.

Emo culture, is just one of the many cultures of the new generation has. Instead of looking at them with disdain and prejudice. I think we can only reach them not through condemnation, but through the love of Jesus.

To all EMO's out there - Jesus loves you.
I dedicate the work of arts below for you.